Summary
Today’s blog is coming to a close. Here is a summary of today’s events in Europe:
Kyiv and Moscow have confirmed that a localised ceasefire in the Russian-occupied Ukrainian town of Oleshky, brokered with the involvement of the US first lady Melania Trump, will begin on 27 October.
France is reeling from “a terrorist attack with racist, likely Islamophobic, overtones”, according to Ali Rabeh, the mayor of Trappes, a town near Paris where a deadly attack claimed the life of one person of African origin and wounded several other people. The French president called the incident “a turning point for the Republic”.
The International Atomic Energy Agency said on Friday that repairs to key power infrastructure near the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant had been completed under a temporary ceasefire it brokered.
European leaders gathered in Budapest at the invitation of prime minister Péter Magyar to take part in an event commemorating the 70th anniversary of the 1956 Hungarian revolution. Magyar said that he wanted Hungary to be a “reliable ally” after the Orbán era.
Ukraine’s lead negotiator has confirmed that a localised ceasefire with Russia will begin on 27 October, with the humanitarian mission led by the US first lady Melania Trump to start two days later on Thursday 29 October – which may explain the earlier divergence between the ceasefire start dates stated by Moscow and Washington.
The first lady also said “an impartial American media organization” will accompany and document Russian and Ukrainian teams on the ground during the mission. The chosen news organization is Newsmax, a conservative outlet founded by Christopher Ruddy, a longtime friend of President Trump.
Russia’s justice ministry has published a list of 12 citizens who would be facing “restrictive measures” related to a law curbing the rights of government critics abroad that came into effect in August.
It is not clear what the restrictions are but the law stipulates that anyone “evading punishment” in Russia could have their assets seized and access to consular support withdrawn.
The list included the names of former oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky and the political scientist Ekaterina Schulmann.
France’s public broadcaster is reporting that several loud bangs were heard close to the home of the suspect arrested for carrying out a deadly attack in Paris today.
The country’s National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s office said the house had been booby-trapped with “three gas canisters and electrical wires connected to a timer”. France Télévisions suggested the sound may have been a result of work being conducted by bomb disposal technicians.
In a post on X, the French foreign minister, Jean-Noël Barrot, said his thoughts were with the victims, their loved ones and law enforcement officers.
He added: “The investigation must shed full light on the tragedy that has struck Trappes and La Verrière today, but one thing is certain: hate speech always ends up leading to the worst outcomes.”
In recent weeks, some coverage of the student protests in France focused on the assumed religious and ethnic backgrounds of the demonstrators, with the US president making a baseless claim that “Paris is going to be a Muslim city very soon”.
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Kremlin spokesperson says trilateral talks scheduled to take place in Abu Dhabi
The Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said trilateral talks between the United States, Russia and Ukraine are scheduled to take place in Abu Dhabi next month.
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, confirmed the plan – to meet in the Emirati capital during the first half of November – in a post on X.
He said: “Now we all need to focus on making these meetings happen – together with America, Europe and all our partners. Can they happen without America or without American pressure on Russia? Probably not. That’s why we are really counting on America to keep this a priority at every level.”
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In an emotional speech, Emmanuel Macron spoke of how the deadly shooting attack in a Paris suburb earlier today marked “a turning point in the life of our republic and our nation”.
One person of north African origin was killed and several other people were wounded, including a 12-year-old girl in an incident that was reported to have lasted for nearly 15 minutes. A 39-year-old suspect is currently in police custody.
The French president said: “We will yield nothing, and we have nothing to yield. This marks a turning point, because it is the first time there has been a terrorist act planned to kill our fellow citizens, our children, on the basis of their skin colour or the religion attributed to them.”
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Ukraine says Oleshky ceasefire should begin on Tuesday, in line with date given by Kremlin
Ukraine and Russia have signed an agreement clarifying details for the “humanitarian mission” in Russian-occupied Oleshky, Reuters reports.
In comments to the news agency, Kyiv’s ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said Ukraine is also working on “expanding the mission” to other areas.
The multi-staged mission will involve demining roads to Oleshky, food deliveries and evacuations, he said, and should be implemented starting 27 October. That date is in line with the one given by the Kremlin earlier, but is different to Washington’s date of 29 October.
Melania Trump’s “personal involvement” made the agreement possible, Lubinets added.
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Earlier on Friday, Emmanuel Macron met directly with around 20 student representatives for the first time since protests began a month ago, as his government prepares for further demonstrations over the weekend.
Macron promised an overhaul of France’s much-criticised university admissions system Parcoursup, student groups said after the meeting at the presidential palace, according to France24.
The French president is now in Trappes, where he will speak this evening alongside the mayor, “to express his solidarity with all those mobilized following today’s racist terrorist attack,” the Élysée Palace said.
Russian army chief says Oleshky ceasefire will begin on Tuesday morning
A ceasefire aimed at providing humanitarian aid to the ravaged Russian-occupied Ukrainian city of Oleshky will begin in the early hours of Tuesday, Russia’s army chief has said.
“The Russian army are ceasing fire in the Kherson sector and entering a regime of silence from 4am Moscow time on October 27,” army chief Valery Gerasimov was quoted as saying on Friday by the Russian defence ministry, AFP reports.
The White House said earlier that the ceasefire would begin on 29 October. I’ll bring you more clarity on the timings of the truce as we get it.
European leaders gather in Budapest for anniversary of Hungarian revolution as Magyar resets EU ties
In other news, guests representing countries across Europe visited Hungary’s capital on Friday to take part in an event commemorating the 70th anniversary of the 1956 anti-Soviet uprising — and to signal a new chapter in their countries’ relations with Budapest after this year’s ousting of former prime minister Viktor Orbán.
The visiting dignitaries - including European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and president of the European Council António Costa - were in Budapest at the invitation of prime minister Péter Magyar, who has spent his first months in office rebuilding Hungary’s ties with Europe that had unraveled under his predecessor.
Addressing tens of thousands of people in Kossuth Square beside Parliament, Magyar praised the bravery of Hungarians who rose up against Soviet oppression in 1956 and “gave their lives for a democratic and independent Hungary.”
He said he wanted Hungary to be a “reliable ally” after the Orbán era:
Since 1956, every Hungarian leader, and I repeat every Hungarian leader, must know that his power can never be more important than the freedom of his country.
Hungary is not a country that can drift forever between east and west. In 1956, the Hungarians made a clear choice: We belong to a free and democratic Europe.
We want to be reliable allies who sit at the shared table with our heads held high, not fortune-seekers who isolate themselves through blackmail and pursuing a separate path.
Earlier on Friday, Magyar placed flowers at the graveside of Hungarians who were killed during the popular 1956 uprising that began with a students’ march in Budapest on 23 October and spread across the country.
Later, he oversaw a ceremonial raising of Hungary’s flag on Kossuth Square beside Parliament, accompanied by President András Baka and speaker of the national assembly Ágnes Forsthoffer.
Von der Leyen, the head of the EU’s executive Commission, was expected to deliver a speech alongside Magyar later in the day. She and other foreign dignitaries were scheduled to take part in a formal commemoration in the Parliament and attend a gala performance in the National Opera.
Updated
Pjotr Sauer and Peter Beaumont
Despite the White House’s claim the Oleshky ceasefire had been brokered by Melania Trump, there had already been protracted efforts to organise a humanitarian ceasefire, with claims by Ukrainian officials that it had been Russia that had rejected previous calls.
Calls for a ceasefire had been issued by Pope Leo XIV – who discussed the issue with the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy – the United Nations, EU officials and the Council of Europe. As recently as 18 October, Ukraine’s ombudsman, Dmytro Lubinets, had also said he thought agreement was close without any mention of the first lady’s involvement.
Ukraine has for weeks been pushing for a civilian evacuation from Oleshky and nearby settlements, at times using drones to airdrop emergency food and medical supplies into town.
Here’s Pjotr and Peter’s report:
Related: Russia and Ukraine agree to local ceasefire in Oleshky amid deepening humanitarian crisis
Updated
Suspect arrested after shooting in Paris suburb that is considered a 'terrorist crime'
A suspect has been arrested and taken into police custody after a gunman fired from a vehicle in a Paris suburb on Friday, killing one person and wounded several others, including a 12-year-old girl, in a “deadly rampage” that French authorities suspect may have been a “racist, likely Islamophobic” attack.
France’s National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s office took charge of the case and interior minister Laurent Nuñez spoke of a “terrorist crime.”
The shootings happened at three separate locations in the towns of Trappes and La Verrière, near Paris, and took less than 15 minutes in total, Nuñez said.
“A deadly rampage took place this morning,” he told reporters in Trappes. According to Nuñez, the attacker fatally shot one person and wounded five others, three of them very seriously, with their lives in danger.
Nuñez said the attack was considered a “terrorist crime” by prosecutors, with a possible racist motive.
Aurore Bergé, the minister for gender equality and fight against discriminations, said the 12-year-old girl was very seriously injured.
As quoted by the Associated Press, she added:
If a racist motive is established, I hope that the whole nation will stand alongside the residents of Trappes, La Verrière, and the victims. We cannot tolerate even the slightest racist remark in the French Republic.
Nuñez said the suspect fired “what appears to have been a military-grade weapon, or at least an automatic weapon.”
Trappes mayor Ali Rabeh said earlier that the gunman appeared to have fired relatively randomly, targeting passersby at several locations including a playground.
He told reporters:
This is probably one of the first attempted mass killings motivated by Islamophobia and racism. This was a terrorist attack with racist, likely Islamophobic, overtones.
Rabeh previously said the person killed was of African origin, while one of those critically wounded was of North African origin.
France’s National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s office said it opened a criminal investigation into several offences, including “murder in connection with a terrorist enterprise with the aggravating circumstance that the act was committed on account of the victim’s actual or perceived membership of a particular race, ethnic group, nationality or religion.”
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Trump says he will talk to Musk if Ukraine's Starlink not fixed
Further detail on that now with Donald Trump saying that he would speak to Elon Musk if there are still problems with Ukraine’s military-grade version of the Starlink service.
“If there is a problem, I will get it straightened out,” Trump told reporters at the White House after Ukraine said it was still having problems with the Starshield communications platform.
Asked if he had contacted Musk to restore access, Trump replied: “I have not spoken to him. I might have to, but I have not. I’ve heard it was fixed, but if it’s not, I’ll speak to him.”
As we’ve been reporting, it comes after Trump had said on Thursday that Musk, whose SpaceX is behind the Starshield system, had restored access.
The US president on Friday also rejected suggestions that Musk had too much power over a system that is vital for Ukraine’s fight against Russia’s invasion, now in its fifth year.
“I don’t think he does,” Trump said. “Elon will never do anything wrong. I know him very well, he is a fair person.”
Trump has had a complicated relationship with Musk, who led the (supposedly) cost-cutting Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) last year before an almighty falling out last year. The pair appear to have made up again in recent months.
Further to that, Donald Trump was just asked by a reporter at the White House if he was aware of who ordered the Starlink access in Ukraine to be restricted.
Trump replied:
Well, I wouldn’t tell you if I did know. I have no idea. But I wouldn’t tell you if I did know.
He also said that he had not spoken to Elon Musk regarding the issue, but suggested he would do so if the access wasn’t fixed.
Ukraine continues to report disruptions to Starlink access
Pjotr Sauer and Peter Beaumont
Ukrainian forces continue to report widespread disruptions to the Starlink satellite network, despite Donald Trump’s claim that Elon Musk had lifted restrictions on the service.
The slowdown, which has affected the key communications system used by Ukrainian troops, began last week after Trump and Starlink founder Musk publicly criticised Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, over continued strikes on Russian oil refineries.
The restrictions have raised questions and confusion about who ordered the slowdown and why, with both Trump and Musk denying responsibility.
“I don’t comment one way or the other,” Trump said on Thursday when asked about reports that he had personally called Musk to demand the restrictions be lifted.
The bottom line: he put it back.
But Ukrainian officials said on Friday morning that speeds remained capped at about 100mph, with no indication that the restrictions had been lifted.
“At present, we have not observed any lifting of the restrictions on Starlink,” said Serhii Beskrestnov, a military expert who advises Zelenskyy.
“There have been isolated cases in which Starlink has operated at speeds slightly above the imposed limits, but this is likely due to SpaceX’s algorithms or specific conditions of use, rather than any lifting of the restrictions,” Beskrestnov added.
The speed restrictions have prevented Ukrainian military equipment, including drones, from maintaining a connection to the satellite network when travelling at high speeds, hampering both offensive drone operations and efforts to intercept incoming Russian attacks.
The slowing down of Starlink, coupled with Zelenskyy’s complaints that Washington had temporarily suspended intelligence-sharing with Kyiv, have plunged relations between Ukraine and the US to a new low in recent days.
For more on this, my colleague Jonathan Yerushalmy has this explainer on the Starlink row:
Related: Trump, Musk, Zelenskyy: who is blaming whom in the Ukraine-Starlink row?
Kremlin confirms Oleshky ceasefire and says working with Ukraine on evacuation timing
And word now from the Kremlin which, in step with the White House, hails Melania Trump’s “significant contribution” in helping broker the ceasefire in Oleshky. (Kyiv also noted her role, along with that of the Pope).
Confirming that a US-brokered local ceasefire agreement had been struck regarding the Russian-controlled town, the Kremlin has said that the Russian and Ukrainian militaries were working to determine the dates for implementing it.
The White House said earlier that the ceasefire would begin on 29 October.
As reported by Reuters, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Friday that all civilians wishing to leave Oleshky would be allowed to do so and that the evacuation operation itself was expected to take at least several days.
Updated
What do we know about the Oleshky negotiations?
There have been efforts for some time now to organise a humanitarian ceasefire with claims by Ukrainian officials it has been Russia that has rejected previous calls, including from the Pope.
However, there were indications last week that progress was being made. On October 18 Ukraine’s ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said he thought agreement was close without any mention of Melania Trump’s involvement.
The reason the talks have been so difficult is reportedly Russian concern that without them holding the several thousand civilians still in the town effectively hostage, the proximity of Oleshky, just the other side of the Dnipro river from Kherson, will see it come under much heavier attack from Ukraine, perhaps even an effort to take it.
Russian troops have also been struggling with food which has seen what supplies have been available to Ukrainians under military occupation taken from the, sometimes violently.
Ukraine official confirms Oleshky evacuation corridors
Ukraine’s top negotiator has also confirmed the Oleshky ceasefire, which was helped brokered by Melania Trump and the White House. He also thanked Pope Leo who raised concerns about the Russian-occupied town this week.
Daivd Arakhamia says an operation to “unblock the settlement of Oleshky and its surroundings will begin in the near future.”
The goal was to create “permanent humanitarian corridors for the safe evacuation of civilians and the delivery of aid”, he said on Telegram.
This was a long process in which many people at different political levels took part. We would especially like to note the role of the Pope and the First Lady of the United States, Melania Trump. We express our sincere gratitude to them.
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Moscow airports suspend flights amid Ukrainian drone raid
Russian media report that dozens of flights were cancelled or suspended this afternoon at Moscow’s four airports following long-range drone strikes from Ukraine.
FlightRadar 24 says 88 flights were cancelled and 239 delayed at Moscow’s largest airport, Sheremetyevo International, on Friday afternoon.
As Ukraine has stepped up its reach deep into Russian territory with long-range drones, temporary airport shutdowns have become more common.
Zelenskyy last month said Ukraine posed no threat to civilian aircraft but Russian airspace was becoming part of the warzone.
Today, we wish to issue a warning to every airline using Russian airspace, every insurer, and everyone still utilizing key Russian airports: the Russian skies are becoming entirely unsafe.
Ukraine poses no threat to civil aviation as such—not to a single civilian aircraft. However, the presence of drones in the skies over Russia is a reality that must be taken into account.
Ukrainian leaders have been calling for a pause in fighting to get civilians out of Oleshky for months but the Russian authorities hadn’t budged.
In a statement, Melania Trump said it had become “abundantly clear that without my intervention, the possibility to bring humanitarian aid into the city and to evacuate the elderly would be impossible.”
She said she’d worked with both Russian and Ukrainian leaders on the plan, and evacuating residents would have a choice to either go to Russia or Ukraine.
Oleshky was captured by the Russians in the first week of the war, and about 2,000 residents are estimated to still be living there under Russian rule.
The first lady has made helping children in conflict a focus of her tenure. Last year she surpried everyone inrevealing she had a backchannel communication with Putin, in personally arranging for children displaced in the war to be reunited with their families.
In some cases, the children had been abducted by Russia. So far she has helped reunite 34 children with their parents, her office says.
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France shooting a 'racist, probably Islamophobic’ attack: mayor
Some more details on the shooting this morning in the town west of Paris which killed one person and injured five others, including a 12-year-old girl.
The mayor of Trappes says the gunman was was most likely carrying out “a racist, probably Islamophobic attack”.
Mayor Ali Rabeh said the gunman, who had opened fire from a car between Trappes and La Verriere, had been shooting at random and “seemed intent on carrying out a massacre”. Two of the victims were of African and North African origin, he said.
Authorities are investigating it as an act of terrorism. The gunman had “clearly” committed a “terrorist crime”, said Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez.
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‘Hell on earth’: last residents eat weeds to survive in Russian-occupied Oleshky
The White House says the first lady has led the charge in negotiating this evacuation corridor for civilians in Oleshky; we’ll have more details soon.
My colleagues Peter Beaumont and Artem Mazhulin however had this report last month on just how dire the situation has become in the war-ravaged town:
Oleshky, across the Dnipro River from the southern city of Kherson, has become “a hell on earth”, according to Ukrainians familiar with conditions there.
Food had finally run out for the 2,000 or so civilians, including 50 children, remaining in the city and its surrounding villages.
In messages shared with the Guardian, residents said they were down to one meal a day: soup without potato, made with courgette grown in what once were the flower boxes of the city’s apartment houses, sometimes with the addition of foraged purslane, an edible weed.
“We’re running out of everything,” said a resident early in the summer. “By August, the situation will be critical for us. And come autumn, we’ll definitely die. I’m already dying. I’m getting weaker by the day.”
“We’re in Oleshky [and] we can’t get out. We’re going hungry … Right now, I’ve got absolutely nothing to eat,” read another message from a woman in the besieged city who was waiting to be evacuated by the occupying forces. Before the war, she had weighed 110kg (17st); now she weighed just 67kg, she wrote.
In September, military authorities in Kherson carried out a large-scale airdrop of emergency food, water and medical supplies into the city and surrounding areas, using large drones, after Russia reportedly again rejected a ceasefire to evacuate civilians.
The Ukrainian foreign minister, Andrii Sybiha, raised the situation in Oleshky at the UN general assembly in New York in September. He told those gathered: “Russia is deliberately making life there impossible. They are starving them to death.”
Related: ‘Hell on earth’: last residents eat weeds to survive in Russian-occupied Oleshky
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Melania Trump helps broker ceasefire in Russian-occupied town where residents were starving to death
The White House has issued a statement saying Melania Trump has helped broker a ‘ceasefire’ in the Russian-occupied city of Oleshky, where residents have been enduring a worsening humanitarian crisis due to the lack of food, electricity and other resources.
The small town in southern Kherson has been the centre of an increasingly desperate humanitarian crisis under Russian occupation.
Since May, Russia has failed to deliver food, medicine or other essential goods to the area leading to deaths from starvation and disease. There has also been problems with the burial of bodies and sanitation, as the local morgue has been destroyed and there is no running water.
Russia and Ukraine have accused the other of blocking supplies to the population of the town which Ukrainian forces want to retake.
Ukraine has previously appealed for a ceasefire to evacuate the estimated 2,000 civilians left in the town – but Russia hadn’t made any commitments.
Earlier this week, Pope Leo called for an intervention while the Kremlin said Putin had discussed the situation with Donald Trump.
The White House now say both countries have agreed to pause military action “to allow for humanitarian aid to enter and to prepare a civilian evacuation through a designated safe passageway. A ceasefire is set to come into effect on 29 October.
“The situation in Oleshky is dire. Oleshky is a front-line war city on the brink of disaster. Oleshky’s remaining population is comprised primarily of elderly residents who urgently need medical attention, medicine, food, and clean water,” Melania Trump said in the statement.
“It was abundantly clear that without my intervention, the possibility to bring humanitarian aid into the city and to evacuate the elderly would be impossible,” she added.
There is no comment from Moscow or Ukraine yet. The Guardian’s international correspondents are looking into the statement and attempting to corroborate it with their sources.
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Paris Saint-Germain’s clash with Lyon in Ligue 1 has been moved from Sunday to Monday evening at the request of Paris police.
The French football league said it had agreed to comply with the police order.
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France and UK stage joint exercise to conduct a 'simulated nuclear strike'
The French and British governments have issued a joint statement confirming that their air forces have for the first time staged a joint exercise simulating a nuclear strike, AFP reports.
UK defence minister Wes Streeting was quoted as saying:
This exercise demonstrates the depth of our partnership, the credibility of our deterrents, and our determination to remain united in the face of emerging threats.
France’s statement said that “possessing independent nuclear forces does not preclude coordination.”
The exercise consisted of French Rafales taking off from a base in northern France escorted by British RAF Typhoons.
Reuters has a quick snap that passengers are being evacuated from Sheremetyevo airport near Moscow. RIA reports it is due to a drone threat.
Von der Leyen 'deeply alarmed' by drone attack in Black Sea
President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen said Friday she was “deeply alarmed” after Russia was blamed for a new drone attack that sank a ship in the Black Sea near Romania.
Posting on social media, AFP report she said:
Deeply alarmed by yet another Russian escalation in the Black Sea. A civilian vessel carrying Ukrainian and Azerbaijani crew has been struck off the coast of Romania. These reckless attacks target innocent lives and openly defy international law.
In Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that a large-scale swap of prisoners has taken place with Russia.
Ukraine on Friday brought home 270 people, including nine civilians.
President Emmanuel Macron has commented on a shooting earlier today in the town of Trappes, west of Paris, which has left one person dead and wounded four others, including a 12-year-old girl.
On social media the French president said:
We would like to thank our law enforcement agencies, which have already taken the suspect into custody. The National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office has taken over the case.
France protest bans criticised by the left and civil rights groups
It’s all a bit of a moveable feast at the moment in terms of where and when protests can or cannot be held this weekend.
Initially authorities in cities like Marseille and Lyon had issued blanket bans on any unauthorised demonstrations.
That prompted 1.) a rush by trade unions and student groups to file their protest plans with officials and negotiate march routes and
2.) last-minute legal challenges with plaintiffs arguing their constitutional right to protest is being suppressed by the government.
Trade unionists, lawyers, students, public intellectuals, and rights activists have all come out criticising the curbs on protest. The government says it’s trying to prevent a repeat of the looting, fires and violence seen last weekend.
Left-wing politicians also denounced the “headlong authoritarian rush” of the government. Far-left leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s party put out this statement this morning:
By deciding to ban demonstrations, to choose who has the right to organize them, to put in place curfews on the scale of a department or a city, to encourage traders to use private security, the executive is crossing one by one the limits that separate a democracy from an authoritarian and police state.
Furthermore, bans on demonstrations are foolish decisions that are likely to generate chaos. Indeed, these bans will not quell anger against the government’s policies, nor will they quell the desire to express it in the streets.
Meanwhile co-president of the Association of Criminal Lawyers, Romain Boulet, slammed the thousands of arrests that have occurred this week calling it: “The most repressive week in the history of the Fifth Republic.”
Never before in France have there been so many arrests and so many people brought before the courts as this week.
The Justice Minister has just given an updated on sentencings- saying 232 people have been sentenced to prison since Saturday.
Elite units like the GIGN – the National Gendarmerie Intervention Group- and RAID (Research, Assistance, Intervention and Deterrence) are being activated tomorrow in the protests.
These units more commonly specialise in counter-terrorism events, hostage rescue, protecting senior state officials.
Nuñez defended their involvement in policing these street demonstrations of students, workers and civil servants. He noted calls on social media “from the far-left” to target public buildings.
“We are not talking about a peaceful, friendly demonstration,” Nunez told reporters. “We are ready tomorrow to be extremely firm and not tolerate anything.“
Updated
70,000 police officers and gendarmes to be deployed
The French interior minister says the government is mobilising 70,000 police officers and gendarmes- military officers who serve in the national police force – to city streets this weekend.
Riot squads and other elite, specialised units will be deployed. Even police trainees are being drafted in as support.
Laurent Nuñez said the government was aiming for an “extremely mobile, agile and effective” force. Some units will be stationed specifically outside government and public buildings as protection.
As I’ve noted earlier, several museums and tourist sites are closing this weekend – including Paris’s major museums the Louvre and Orsay – while shops and businesses are also boarding up.
Updated
Nuñez again condemned the vandalism and looting seen on the sidelines of protests last weekend – saying authorities would be “uncompromising” with “the vandals, with the looters and with all those who will commit atrocities”.
He also again repeated that some of this had been stoked by groups “on the far-left and radical extreme left” – but didn’t provide details.
“What happened on Octobe 17 is totally unacceptable. We will be fully in control to prevent these lootings, these attacks on public buildings” from occurring again, he said.
More than 200 people have already been jailed over last weekend’s violence.
French interior minister Laurent Nuñez is speaking now following a meeting of the Defence Council this morning, chaired by President Macron.
He begins by mentioning the shooting this morning in Trappes before going on to defending some of the blanket bans on demonstrations that have been issued in different regions across the country- saying each prefecture has the best idea of the security situation.
For example, until an hour ago, Marseille authorities had banned all demonstrations but the prefecture there has now allowed a trade union march to go ahead tomorrow.
Several local protest bans are also being challenged in last-minute court hearings today.
Nuñez will also be travelling to Orleans tonight to speak with law enforcement there ahead of the National Rally congress and counter-protests expected in the city tomorrow.
Updated
One dead, four injured in shooting in town west of Paris
The French prime minister Sébastien Lecornu has just issued a statement on a shooting in a town west of Paris this morning where one person was killed and four others injured.
Police said a gunman had opened fire in Trappes, in the Yvelines, and neighbouring La Verriere. The gunman was later arrested in nearby Coignieres.
Lecornu called it a “very serious event”.
Romania’s President Nicusor Dan has just now also blamed Russia for the Black Sea ship strike, where one sailor was killed and three others are still missing.
“This is clearly part of the escalation that Russia is carrying out in the context of the war in Ukraine,” Dan told reporters.
He’s given no other details so far.
Updated
French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez is due to hold a press conference shortly on the specific measures for protesters this weekend.
We’ll carry a live stream of that at the top of the page.
There’s been a major crackdown on demonstrators; police have arrested 2,700 people since last weekend, Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin said yesterday. He added that courts have also already sent 217 people to prison– half of them first-time offenders.
Updated
One dead, three missing in Black Sea strike
I reported earlier Russia’s claim to having struck a cargo vessel in the Black Sea.
Romanian authorities are saying this morning that one person has been killed and three people are missing from a ship in the Black Sea.
They sent a rescue operation after the Khoryv vessel sent a distress signal around 0700 GMT while 13 nautical miles from the Romanian port of Constanta. There were 10 Ukrainian and three Azerbijani nationals in the crew, Romanian officials said.
“Rescue vessels have managed to recover nine people alive, and one body from the water,” the Romanian Naval Authority said, adding three others were missing.
There’s been a wave of drone attacks on merchant vessels in the Black Sea off Romania and Bulgaria in recent weeks. Romanian fighter jets shot down two Russian drones over the sea last weekend and NATO said this week it would deploy more planes and radar systems to the area.
Bulgaria is also holding a vote for the mainly ceremonial presidential role on Sunday. Election campaigns have mainly been focused on Russia’s war in Ukraine and the widening hostilities in the Black Sea.
Heat killed 50,000 people in Europe this summer
I’m going to track away from the French protests just slightly – although one of the demands of Parisian high schoolers is for air-conditioning and other basics in their classrooms – and highlight some shocking new numbers on just how many people died from the extreme heatwaves across Europe this summer.
Researchers from Imperial and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine say the heat killed a record 50,000 people.
People succumbed to heat at the highest rates in Malta, Italy and Hungary, while absolute death tolls were greatest in Italy, France, Spain, Germany and the UK.
The “staggering” death toll, modelled using historical relationships between heat and health in 854 cities, is the worst on record.
Scientists are blaming climate breakdown for two in every three of the deaths. The share of deaths due to climate breakdown has risen from about 40% at the start of the century to 65% this summer, the study found – leading to an extra 32,000 deaths.
Because death certificates rarely record contributing factors – such as dangerous temperatures that push a stroke victim or lung cancer patient past their limits – families rarely know that heat and human activity hastened their relatives’ death.
Related: Heat killed ‘staggering’ 50,000 people in Europe’s cities this summer, scientists warn
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France bracing for another weekend of protests
But Macron’s government has ramped up restrictions and protest curbs, to try and stop the looting and ransacking we saw on the fringes of the wider peaceful demonstrations last week.
Critics this morning such as civil rights groups, unionists and lawyers, are lambasting the “repressive” measures.
What protests are planned?
Both student groups and trade unions have planned rallies across the country. France’s main student union, UNEF, has called for demonstrations on Saturday and the Yellow Vest movement also filed plans to march through central Paris.
Marine Le Pen is also hosting the far-right National Rally congress in the central city Orléans, so we’re anticipating protests there with up to 30,000 counter-demonstrators expected.
What restrictions have kicked in?
There are already overnight curfews in place in Paris and many other cities.
In Marseille and Lyon, the second and third-largest cities, there is a general ban on demonstrations however some union groups have been authorised to hold marches.
The Marseille city government also initially said it would stop public transport running on Saturday; they’ve hastily reversed that severely unpopular decision this morning.
In Paris, protesters have been told they can only march a designated route between the Bastille and Nation squares.
Le Monde has this handy map on their site with all the curbs and restrictions and local curfew times
What’s the reaction?
Many shops and businesses, tourist sites and events are boarding up and closing for the weekend. Marseille’s business council advised shops to do so.
In Paris, the Louvre Museum will be shut while the Art Basel Paris art fair is also finishing up early.
What’s the government doing?
On top of the protest bans and restrictions in place, the government says they’ll deploy 20% more police onto the streets this weekend
Macron held a Security Council meeting on Thursday with senior ministers; he’s chairing a Defence Council meeting this morning discussing other measures with law enforcement
This afternoon the French president is also due to host student protest leaders for the first time for negotiations at the Elysee.
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Austria expels four more Russian diplomats suspected of spying
In Vienna this morning, Austria’s foreign ministry has announced it is kicking out another four Russian diplomats over “activities incompatible with their diplomatic status” – a euphemism usually for espionage.
Three of them worked at the Russian embassy while the other worked at the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe) in arms control, Die Presse is reporting.
They had all been monitored for some time by the Austrian security authorities.
You have to wonder how many Russian diplomats are left in Vienna – Europe’s espionage capital since the cold war, as my colleague Jon Henley puts it. Just a few months ago, Austria also expelled three Russian embassy staff on spying allegations, after a “forest of antennae” was detected at the Russian mission.
Austria has expelled now 18 Russian diplomats since 2020.
A quick update from what the Ukrainian and Russian officials are saying this morning on overnight attacks:
Ukraine says Russia targeted energy sites in six different regions. Currently more than 500,000 people are without power.
Russia’s defence ministry confirmed strikes on Vilkovo port in Odesa, a railcar depot in Poltava and a cargo vessel in the Black Sea.
Did Trump or Musk restrict Starshield access?
A war of words has erupted between the Trump administration, officials in Kyiv and Elon Musk over who is to blame for limiting Ukraine’s access to Space X’s military-grade version of Starlink.
The restrictions to Starshield have rendered many of the drones used by Kyiv to strike behind the frontlines inoperable and hampered air defence systems that stop Russian attacks, according to Ukrainian officials.
The US president said on Thursday that the service was running again at full speed, but a European official speaking to the Associated Press denied the service was fully functioning.
What has Trump said?
Trump initially denied any responsibility for the changes to Starshield, telling reporters last Friday: “I don’t know if it was anybody, but it wasn’t me, and I don’t think it was Elon,” referring to Musk, SpaceX’s CEO.
Trump’s cabinet backed him up, with secretary of state Marco Rubio saying on Wednesday: “What I can tell you with certainty is the president of the United States nor anyone in our system ever requested that any changes to that system be made.”
Rubio, however, also made a comment that threw suspicion on to Musk, the world’s richest man.
The president has nothing to do with the decisions that are made by Starlink and Starshield and by Mr Musk. That’s a private company. The president doesn’t run that company and can’t direct that company to do anything.
The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday that the US president had asked Musk to restore the service, with Trump later telling reporters the system was “back”.
He refused to comment on whether he had spoken to Musk, but appeared to suggest the ultimate power to limit the service rested with the SpaceX CEO. “I guess the bottom line, he put it back,” Trump said, referring to Musk.
However, John Cornyn, a Republican who is in his final weeks as the US senator for Texas, told US media that he didn’t believe Musk would have acted “without at least the acquiescence of the White House”.
What about Musk?
Musk has supported Trump’s calls for Volodymyr Zelenskyy to be replaced and has been highly critical of the Ukrainian president. However, he was quick to blame the limits on Starshield on the Trump administration, writing on X last week that the systems were “owned and controlled by the US government”.
Any limits on speed or usage are decided by the US military and ultimately POTUS.
Musk – one of the Republican party’s biggest donors and a Trump ally – continued to deny responsibility for the changes. However, on Tuesday the Wall Street Journal reported that Musk made the order to slow down Starshield, with the paper’s sources in disagreement over whether this was made in concert with Trump.
Vice-president JD Vance backed Musk on Thursday, saying the billionaire “doesn’t want to get in the middle of what is a war between two state actors without the United States government effectively directing him on what to do”.
So I don’t think this is about Elon. I think it’s fundamentally what is America’s policy in Ukraine and Russia going to be.
Amid the war of words, civilian casualties in Ukraine have surged, and the question over who is ultimately responsible for limiting Kyiv’s access has remained unanswered.
Related: Trump, Musk, Zelenskyy: who is blaming who in the Ukraine-Starlink row?
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Opening summary
Good morning and welcome to our Europe live blog, where we’ll begin in Ukraine.
Local authorities reported explosions overnight in Lutsk, a city not far from the Polish border, and in the central Poltava and southern Sumy regions. Russia this morning has also claimed strikes on ships in the Black Sea.
Both sides engaged in heavy strikes yesterday with Russia bombarding Kyiv with ballistic missiles and Ukraine sending swarms of drones to Moscow.
Trump has declared that Starlink is once again running at full speed across Ukraine after the service was throttled last week -but Ukrainian and European officials say they haven’t seen that speed and functionality resume.
The satellite service was still only operating at a cap of 161km/hr, crippling key air defences and limiting mid-range strikes, a Ukrainian official told the Kyiv Independent after Trump’s comments. “Overall, nothing has changed anywhere,” the paper quoted the unnamed official saying.
Elsewhere we’re watching this continued wave of student-led protests across Europe. From Rome to Athens, Madrid and Paris, young people are venting their anger over the lack of resources in schools as well as wider housing and cost-of-living concerns. They’ve often been joined by their teachers in these ralies.
Fearing another weekend of street marches descending into violence and looting, French authorities have banned some protests over the coming days. President Emmanuel Macron, just returned from his mid-week tour to the Gulf states, is due to meet with student leaders around lunchtime in Paris.
It’s Frances Mao today in London, covering for Jakub, stay with me for all the developments.
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